Interesting Fact on DVDs

40% of DVD's sold in the United States are sold at Walmart. One of my guilty plesures is the $5.50 DVD Bin at Walmart. All of the DVD's piled in a one large bin. It's like digging for gold.

Oregon Athletic Director Search Continues.......(Day 3)

Today the Oregonian Newspaper has is a report that Mike Bellotti will not give up his job as Head Football Coach to become Oregon Athletic Director. "If that was a condition, I would not even consider it." he said."I'm a football coach first." I guess this rules out the Jeff Tedford rumor that Tedford would become Head Football coach and Bellotti would become AD. I still do not think Bellotti or any one else can do justice to BOTH jobs. Considering Oregon's football season Bellotti needs to devote his undivided attention to football and we need to hire a full time AD.

Bill Moos paid almost 2 Million to leave Uof O AD

The Eugene Register Guard tonight is reporting in an update that University of Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos is being paid almost 2 million dollars over ten years for leaving his job as Athletic Director. The money is cumming from a small group of donors that include Pat Killkenny. No state funds are being used. The Register Guard will have the complete news story in tomorrows print edition. (Click on the title above for a link to the Reister Guard news story) This is Big! It appears that Bill Moos was paid off to get rid of him. What is the rest of the story?

UPDATE: the Eugene Register Guard has now placed on-line the contract between Bill Moos and the University of Oregon regarding his resignation as Athletic Director.It can be found by clicking on the title above.

Oregon 57, # 18 Georgetown 50

The University of Oregon men's basketball team beat Georgetown 57 to 50 in Washington DC tonight. The last few year have not been good for Oregon Basketball but tonight the team seeded to come together and fought hard down the stretch. Way to go Ducks. Our daughter who lives and works in Washington DC went to the game and my wife saw her on TV wearing her Duck gear when they showed a shot of some Duck fans at the game during a time out. After the game we went to a preview scrimmage basketball game for the South Medford Panthers. Senior Kyle Singler, who has signed a letter of intent to Duke looked awesome. Junior, Michael Harthum could not miss from the 3 point line. Hope to follow them to the state tournament at Mac Court in March. While at the scrimmage bought our South Medford season tickets.Go Ducks... Go Panthers!

Oregon's Athletic Director Search Continues.... Frohnmayer issues a Gag Order.... Tedford in the Picture?

According to Aaron Fentress in the Oregonian today a "directive had been issued by the university that nobody was to discuss the process or candidates involved in the search for Moos' replacement other than university President Dave Frohnmayer"

The Oregonian also said there had been speculation that should Bellotti become AD that Jeff Tedford would become head football coach at Oregon. "Tedford told a Cal publicist Tuesday he was unaware of the pending turnover in the Oregon athletic department."

NO MORE SEATTLE BOWLS WIN AGAIN IN VEGAS, LETS GO DUCKS!

Weekend at Bernie's Update

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said on Tuesday that he was not well enough to attend the opening of several days of events celebrating his 80th birthday.

"I'm not in medical condition to be there," Castro said in a statement read by a presenter to thousands of supporters from dozens of countries at the start of a gala in Havana's Karl Marx theater that was to mark the opening of the celebrations.

VIVA LAS VEGAS !

The Oregon Ducks are going to the Las Vegas Bowl. Oregon will make its 14th post-season appearance in the last 18 years when the Ducks (7-5) meet Mountain West champion Brigham Young (10-2) in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 21.

The announcement of the pairing was made in an official announcement Tuesday by officials of the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl and the Pac-10, in conjunction with the two participating schools.

The Las Vegas Bowl will be televised live on ESPN with a 5 p.m. (PST) kickoff at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Other Pac-10 bowl pairings finalized Tuesday were Oregon State to the Sun Bowl, set for Dec. 29 in El Paso, Texas, and California to the Holiday Bowl, on Dec. 28 in San Diego. In addition, UCLA will play Florida State in the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 27 and Arizona State will go to Honolulu to meet the host Warriors in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24.

NO MORE SEATTLE BOWLS WIN AGAIN IN VEGAS....LETS GO DUCKS

Conspiracy Theory

John Canzano in today's Oregonian sees a conspiracy in Bill Moos, Jim Bartko and Dave Heeke all leaving the University Of Oregon's Athletic Department in "a calender year." He says Moos before he announced he was leaving had cut staffers ,cut annual raises and cut cushy bonuses.He ends the column as follows:

After watching the purging in the department and the recent budget struggles of the rest of the university, the feeling among the holdovers has to be this; "they must know something we don't know."

(To read Canzan's entire column click on the title above for a link)

Potential Oregon Athletic Director Candidates

In this mornings Oregonian a few names were "kicked around" as replacements for Bill Moos.

Dave Heeke..... AD at Central Michigan and former Asst. AD at Oregon.

Jim Bartko......Asst AD at Cal and former Asst. AD at Oregon.

Greg Byrne......Asst AD at Mississippi State formerly at Oregon

Mike Bellotti....Oregon head Football coach

Vin Lananai.....Oregon Track Coach

Rich Brooks.....Head Football Coach at Kentucky, former oregon coach ( added 11/30/06)

Mitch Barnhardt..... AD Kentucky, former Oregon State AD (added 11/30/06)

Gene Bleymaier.......AD Boise State (added 12/6/06)

Tom Jernstedt........NCAA Senior Vice Prsident (added 12/8/06)

I will update this list as there are developments. Go Ducks!

Sounds like Football Coach Mike Belotti wants to also be Oregon AD

These quotes from this mornings Eugene Register Guard:

Mike Bellotti, the UO football coach, acknowledged "a brief conversation" with Frohnmayer about the opening.

"I'm sure that will continue after the bowl game," Bellotti said when contacted while recruiting. "Right now, I'm more looking at (the football) program. I've got a lot of things going on right now."

Asked if he had definite interest in the position, Bellotti said "I don't even know that yet," and predicted "there will be a lot of people who will want this job."

Bellotti was hired as football coach three months before Moos took over the department. He is the only Oregon head coach who wasn't hired by Moos, but the two have worked closely and Bellotti had great praise for the departing director, and what he did for football.

The question that naturally follows is whether Bellotti feels one person can be football coach and director of athletics.

"I would say probably," Bellotti answered. "It's been done before."

Rich Brooks did both at Oregon from 1992 to 1994, when Bellotti was the offensive coordinator for the Ducks.

"He did some good things (as the director)," Bellotti said. "He was good for the department."

Bellotti said he felt Brooks gave up the director's job because he "got more tired of the personalities and the politics" than the workload. Bellotti said he also felt that football didn't suffer from Brooks holding both jobs.

"We did our thing. I don't remember any change at all," Bellotti said in how the staff worked.

Bellotti may talk with Brooks, now the football coach at Kentucky, and Barry Alvarez, the athletic director at Wisconsin who was also the head football coach in recent years before retiring from coaching and concentrating on the one position.

"I know that Barry, when he did (both), he was very comfortable with it," Bellotti said. "He said (making it work) was all based on having great people around him."

Phil Knight on the Departure of Bill Moos as Oregon AD

In this mornings Eugene Register Guard sports columnist Ron Bellamy quotes Nike's Phil Knight on the departure of Bill Moos and the selection of a successor:

"They're really at kind of a crossroads," Nike co-founder Phil Knight said. "This next choice is going to be really important. I know they're going to weigh it pretty heavily. I think they're going to try to find a way to where they don't get rushed into something. I think they're leaning toward an interim AD, so they don't get rushed into a permanent choice, because the choice is so important.

"Over the last 12 years, the department has grown up a lot. Now it's kind of a question of whether it grows up some more, or goes back the other way."


Had Moos become an impediment to the building of a new arena? Perhaps, in the short term, but that's speculation. Asked Monday if in some way he'd pushed Moos out, Knight said "for sure I didn't." Did he have any influence over Moos' departure?

"I know there wasn't any direct influence," Knight said. "Indirect, I suppose I made his job a little harder. It may have made Spokane look better faster than it would have otherwise, I don't know."
Knight said the topic of the arena "hasn't come up in a while, and I haven't thought about it for a while. At some point it will be revisited, but I don't know where I am on that right now."

Moos and Knight saw each other at halftime of Friday's Civil War in Corvallis. By then, Knight knew of Moos' yet-unannounced decision - the AD had told some folks, including football coach Mike Bellotti, who'd told his assistant coaches, so word was spreading. The two shook hands.

"I told him we had a lot of interactions over the 12 years, and there were a lot more positives than negatives, and he agreed," Knight said. As Moos put it: "He said `We've had some great times.' And I said, `Boy, have we.' "

Knight said that Moos "can look back on his 12 years with considerable pride," and that's true. It took a special person to get Oregon from there to here; it will certainly take another to get Oregon from here to a future in which Oregon athletics climb higher.

(To read Ron Bellamy's entire column click on the title above for a link)

Good By Bill Moos

The following is the official University of Oregon press release on Bill Moos stepping down as Athletic Director

University of Oregon athletic director Bill Moos to step down

EUGENE, Ore.-(Nov. 26, 2006)-University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer today announced that UO athletic director Bill Moos will step down after nearly 12 years in the post. Frohnmayer and Moos made the joint announcement after a series of conversations initiated by Moos about the future direction of the University of Oregon athletics program and Moos' professional and personal goals. Per President Frohnmayer's request, Moos will continue serving as the athletic director until March 2007.

"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as the University of Oregon's athletic director for the last 12 years," said Moos.

President Frohnmayer expressed his appreciation for the leadership Moos has provided to the University of Oregon athletics program and noted his success in a variety of areas including building the athletic department into one of the few self-sufficient athletic programs in the country.

"Bill has clearly demonstrated that it is possible to create a financially sound, self-sufficient athletic program while also creating a supportive environment for our student athletes. The University of Oregon has been successful, partnering with university donors, in building athletic facilities which are state of the art for Division I athletic programs. I greatly appreciate the progress that has been made during Bill's tenure as athletic director," said Frohnmayer.>
"Bill and I agreed this was a good time to reflect on that progress and look closely at what it will take to be successful over the next decade. Together we reached the decision that now was the appropriate time to make this change," said Frohnmayer.>
"As my family and I considered our future, it became apparent that the time was right to enter into a new chapter in our lives. Though we will miss our many friends, we will forever savor the memories we shared with them," Moos said. "I am proud of what we have accomplished and feel that the program is in solid shape."

"I owe so much to this place and I will reflect with fond memories on my years at the University of Oregon. I am extremely grateful to my coaches and staff and to the many donors who believed in the vision and helped to build the blueprint that has made Oregon one of the premier athletic programs in the country," said Moos.

The university and Moos have reached an agreement in principle that includes Moos staying on as athletic director until March 31, 2007.

Frohnmayer said that the university will begin a selection process immediately with the goal of identifying a candidate prior to Moos' departure.

I have not been a big fan of Bill Moos. I believe he was able to do a lot with Phil Knight's money such as the indoor practice facility, and the expansion of Autzen Stadium. However when he and Phil Knight had their public spat he was unable to get Knight on board for a new Basketball Arena. Knight and Bill Moos got into their spat over the handling of the ouster of ex-track coach Martin Smith. Knight took particular offense at how Nike was left to be perceived as behind the dismissal. Smith had done little to further Oregon's deep distance-running tradition.

Asked for a comment then by the Oregonian newspaper, Knight sent it a statement saying, "Bill Moos had 10 chances to make the right decision ... and missed every one of them. It's hard to be that perfect." Then when the Athletic Department's main "go between", Assistant AD, Jim Bartko, left Oregon for Cal the main contact to Phil Knight was gone. A real loss for Oregon. I also will never forgive Bill Moos for his attempt at becoming AD at the University of Washington when Barbra Hedges was forced out. He came to Oregon saying he wanted to make Oregon the premiere school in the Northwest and then tried to move to Washington when there was an opening making a mockery of everything he had done before. Thus,in my opinion it was time for Moos to go. I do believe Moos made this decision on his own.... he was not shoved out. He wants to see his son who graduates from high school in June play college football probably at the University of Idaho. In the end it was best for Bill Moos and best for the Ducks. So Bill go to your ranch in the Palouse in Washington State, spend time with your family , and Oregon lets build a new basketball arena.

Searching for Victory in Iraq: Why the Baker-Hamilton Commission Ought to Visit Mount Vernon by Newt Gingrich

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, Callista and I took some friends to Mount Vernon to see the new education center. It is an amazing tribute to George Washington and the creation of America.

We watched a movie about George Washington's crossing the Delaware on Christmas Eve and surprising the Hessians (German mercenaries) on Christmas Day in Trenton. As I watched, I was struck by the amazing difference between the attitude of the Father of our Country and the current attitudes in the city that bears his name.

Gen. Washington had a long and painful summer and autumn of defeat in 1776. His American Army had been defeated across New York -- in Brooklyn, Manhattan and White Plains -- and then driven across New Jersey and forced to flee across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.

Washington's forces had dwindled until he had only about 4,000 effective soldiers left. There were another 6,000 men present, but they were so sick they were unable to go into battle.

Faced with declining morale, rising desertions, the collapse of political will in the country at large and a sense of despair, Washington decided to gamble everything on a surprise attack. It would require a night crossing of an icy river against a formidable professional opponent.

But the most telling sign of Washington's mood as he embarked on the mission was his choice of a password. His men said "victory or death" to identify themselves.

What if There Had Been a Baker-Hamilton Commission Advising Gen. Washington?

That night crossing, immortalized in paintings of Washington's standing in the boat as Marblehead Fishermen rowed him across the ice-strewn river, led to an amazing victory on Christmas Day. That victory led to a surge in American morale and a doubling in the size of the American forces under Washington within two weeks. And that gave Washington the strength to win a second surprise victory at Princeton.

In two weeks, Washington had gone from defeated, hopeless bungler to victorious American hero and personification of the American Cause.

Imagine there had been a Baker-Hamilton Commission -- the group charged with assessing our options in Iraq -- advising Washington that cold Christmas Eve. What "practical, realistic" advice would they have given him?

Eleven Key Tests for the Baker-Hamilton Report

1. Will the Baker-Hamilton Commission make a real contribution in helping us win the war against the Fanatic wing of Islam? Or will it be simply one more establishment effort to hide defeat so the American political system can resume its comfortable insider games without having to solve real problems in the larger world? Here are 11 key things to look for in the commission's report:
Does the Commission Have a Vision for Success in the Larger War Against the Dictatorships and Fanatics Who Want to Destroy Us?
If Iraq were only a one-step process, the answer might be to leave. But the reality is that Iraq is a single campaign within a much bigger war and within a power struggle over both the evolution of Islam and the rise of dictatorships seeking nuclear and biological weapons to enable them to destroy America and her allies. If the Baker-Hamilton Commission does not take this into account, it is a dangerously misleading report.

2. Does the Commission Recognize That the Second Campaign in Iraq Has Been a Failure? This is the hardest thing for Washington-centric bureaucracies to accept. There was a very successful 23-day campaign to drive Saddam out of power. It used America's strengths, and it worked. The second campaign has been an abject failure. We and our Iraqi allies do not have control of Iraq. We cannot guarantee security. There is not enough economic activity to keep young males employed. If the Baker-Hamilton Commission cannot bring itself to recognize a defeat as a defeat, then it cannot recommend the scale of change that is needed to develop a potentially successful third campaign.

3. Does the Commission Recognize the Scale of Change We Will Need to Adopt to Be Effective in a World of Enemies Willing to Kill Themselves in Order to Kill Us?
We need fundamental change in our military doctrine, training and structures, our intelligence capabilities and our integration of civilian and military activities. The instruments of American power simply do not work at the speed and detail needed to defeat the kind of enemies we are encountering. The American bureaucracies would rather claim the problem is too hard and leave, because being forced to change this deeply will be very painful and very controversial. Yet we have to learn to win.

Learning to win requires much more than changes in the military. It requires changes in how our intelligence, diplomatic, information and economic institutions work. It requires the development of an integrated approach in which all aspects of American power can be brought to bear to achieve victory. Furthermore, this strategy for victory has to be doubly powerful. For three years, we have failed to build an effective Iraqi government, and we now have a shattered local system with many players using violence in desperate bids to maximize their positions. The plan has to be powerful enough to succeed despite Iraqi weaknesses and not by relying on a clearly uncertain and unstable Iraqi political system.

4. Does the Commission Describe the Consequences of Defeat in Iraq?
What would the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq look like? Frederick Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute recently offered this chilling picture:

"The pullback of U.S. forces to their bases will not reduce the sectarian conflict, which their presence did not generate -- it will increase it. Death squads on both sides will become more active. Large-scale ethnic and sectarian cleansing will begin as each side attempts to establish homogeneous enclaves where there are now mixed communities. Atrocities will mount, as they always do in ethnic cleansing operations. Iraqis who have cooperated with the Americans will be targeted by radicals on both sides. Some of them will try to flee with the American units. American troops will watch helplessly as death squads execute women and children. Pictures of this will play constantly on Al Jazeera. Prominent 'collaborators,' with whom our soldiers and leaders worked, will be publicly executed. Crowds of refugees could overwhelm not merely Iraq's neighbors but also the [Forward Operating Bases] themselves. Soldiers will have to hold off fearful, tearful, and dangerous mobs."

5. Does the Commission Understand the Importance of Victory?
Winning is key. We are in a power struggle on a worldwide basis with dictators who want to defeat us (Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea) and with fanatic organizations that want to kill us (al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc). In a struggle like this, the goal has to be to win. Anything less than victory is very dangerous, because it allows our enemies to gather more capabilities and prepare for more dangerous campaigns. Time is not on our side. Time is on the side of those seeking nuclear and biological weapons to use against the civilized world.

6. Does the Commission Define What It Means to Win, or Simply Find a Face-Saving Way to Lose? Winning is very definable. Can we protect our friends and hurt our enemies? Are they more afraid of us, or are we more afraid of them? The recent Syrian assassination of a Lebanese Christian leader who was pro-Western is a signal that they are not afraid of us. The North Korean decisions to launch seven missiles on our Independence Day and to set off a nuclear weapon were signs they have contempt for our warnings. The statements of Ahmadinejad (the Iranian dictator) and Hugo Chavez (the Venezuelan dictator) indicate how confident they are.

Today, the enemy thinks they are winning, and our elites seem to be seeking face-saving cover behind which to accept defeat. Does the Baker-Hamilton Commission have a proposal for victory or a proposal for accepting defeat gracefully? Will it offer a diplomatic deal allowing us to pretend we are okay while our enemies gather strength?

7. Does the Commission Acknowledge That Winning Requires Thinking Regionally and Even Globally? In Afghanistan, we are engaged in an Afghanistan-Waziristan war in which our enemies retreat into Waziristan in Northwest Pakistan and re-arm, re-equip, retrain and rest before coming back into Afghanistan. We will never win that war by engaging only in Afghanistan. In Iraq, the problems may require much more direct confrontation with Iran and Syria. In Lebanon, it is impossible to create a stable democratic government and disarm Hezbollah as long as Syria and Iran are deeply involved in killing Lebanese leaders and supplying Hezbollah.

8. Any Proposal to Ask Iran and Syria to Help Is a Sign of Defeat. Does the Commission Suggest This? Iran and Syria are the wolves in the region. They are the primary trouble makers. You don't invite wolves into the kitchen to help with dinner or you become dinner. The State Department Report on Terrorism in April 2006 said: "Iran and Syria routinely provide unique safe haven, substantial resources and guidance to terrorist organizations." It went on to say: "Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism." It noted that in Iraq the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (an arm of the Iranian dictatorship) "was increasingly involved in supplying lethal assistance to Iraqi militant groups which destabilize Iraq."

How can the Baker Hamilton Commission seriously suggest that two dictatorships described like this are going to be "helpers" in achieving American goals in the Middle East?

9. Does the Commission Believe We Can 'Do a Deal' With Iran? The clear effort by the Iranians to acquire nuclear weapons and Ahmadinejad's assertion that it is easy to imagine a time in the near future when the United States and Israel have both disappeared should be adequate proof that the Iranian dictatorship is the active enemy of America. Couple that with the fact that the Iranians lied to the International Atomic Energy Agency for 18 years while trying to develop a nuclear weapon. Either this is a dangerous regime we need to fundamentally change, or it is a reasonable regime with which we can deal.

Presidential speeches and State Department documents clearly indicate it is a dangerous regime, yet there is a permanent Washington establishment desire to avoid conflict and confrontation by "doing a deal." In the 1930s, that model was called appeasement, not realism, and it led to a disaster. We need a Churchill not a Chamberlain policy for the Middle East.

10. Does the Commission Believe We Are More Clever Than Our Enemies?
The al-Assad family has run Syria since 1971. Hafiz Assad arranged for his son Bashar to succeed him. This family and its Alewite supporters represent a small minority of the Syrian people, but they maintain a relentlessly tough internal dictatorship that keeps power in their hands. In some ways, there are parallels between Bashar Assad and Kim Jong Il -- they both maintain family dictatorships with the support of a brutal system of internal controls. After 35 years of defying the United States, there is no reason to believe our diplomats are more clever than their ruthlessly survivor-oriented systems. Negotiating with them is an invitation to be taken to the cleaners and to extend the power, prestige and influence of our mortal enemies in the region.

Recent talk of reaching out to Syria has been met by the assassination of a Lebanese Minister and the intensifying of the Hezbollah blackmail tactics in Lebanon. Weakness from America leads to greater aggression from our enemies. The Baker-Hamilton Commission should focus on how to contain or defeat Syria, not on how to rely on them for help.

11. Does the Commission Recognize the Importance of Working With the Democratic Majorities on a Strategy for Victory? The Democratic victory in the 2006 election should not be used as an excuse to do the wrong thing. The Democrats are now confronting the responsibility and burden of power. Given the right information about Iran, Syria and Iraq, there is every reason to believe a bipartisan majority can be formed in both the House and Senate for a rational strategy for victory. Opposition to continuing the failed second campaign should not be translated into opposition to an American victory.

The Bush Administration should reach out to moderate Democrats and forge a bipartisan agenda for victory and, by March 2007, pass a bipartisan resolution for victory in Iraq and for stopping Iranian efforts to get nuclear weapons. That will set the basis for appropriations to continue the effort. The passage of a solid bipartisan bill in March would send a signal to the world that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of defeating terrorism and defending America. That will dramatically lower the morale and confidence of our enemies.

These 11 steps would be a powerful basis on which to move forward in Iraq and in the world. What's more, they reflect the spirit of Gen. Washington when he chose "victory or death" as the motto of the campaign that led to the founding of America despite overwhelming odds.

Your friend,

Newt Gingrich

Who Should be the New Athletic Director at Oregon?

Now that Bill Moos is going to announce his resignation as Athletic Director for the University of Oregon Ducks there is a lot of speculation as to his replacement. There is talk that Mike Bellotti will serve at least on an interim basis at both AD and Head Football Coach. I don't like this idea because each job is a full time job. I didn't like it when Rich Brooks had both jobs and he finally gave up the AD job just before the 1994 Rose bowl Season. There is talk that the new Track Coach Vin Lannana could become AD. However, he is tied up with the 2008 Olympic Track Trials that are coming to Hawyard Field. Therefore I will look elsewhere in my speculation and that is all it is speculation. My choices in no particular order are Jim Bartko, Bill or Greg Byrne.

Jim Bartko is an assistant AD at Cal. I met Jim when he was the Duck Athletic Fund Representative here in Southern Oregon and he would be a great choice. He knows Phil Knight and worked closely with him when he was at Oregon and we built the new addition on to Autzen Stadium. He knows the Oregon fans and he would be a great choice. However he has been at Cal a short time and he may not want to come back. But if the leftist there in "Baserkly" stall the new stadium improvements he may want to come home.

Bill Byrne was Oregon's AD in the 1980's and got our first Bowl bid in a looooong time to the Independence Bowl in 1989. He also got the Casanova Center built when no one though it could be done. Since leaving Oregon he has been the AD at Nebraska and is now the AD at Texas A&M. It's time to come home Bill!

Greg Byrne is Bill's son and a "chip off the old block." He was a Duck Athletic Fund Representative here in Southern Oregon and he was a real dynamo. Since leaving Oregon he has been an assistant AD at Oregon State , Kentucky and is now at Mississippi State. When he went to Oregon State I told him he would come back to the Ducks some day. I sure hated to lose him when he left the Ducks. Time to come home Greg.

Any of the three choice listed above would do a good job. (Picture on your left is Jim Bartko. Center picture if of Bill Byrne)

Ducks to Go Bowling

The Oregon Duck are going to a college football bowl. They just don't know which one. The choices are between a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl for a game with BYU on December 21st or a trip to the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco for a game with Florida State on December 27th. Both bowls will be on ESPN TV and will start at 5 PM PST. The Emerald Bowl is played at AT&T Park in San Francisco where the S.F. Giants play baseball.The Las Vegas Bowl is payed at Jack Boyd Stadium where UNLV playes their home game. Most of the organizations that make Bowl Projections such as CBS Sports project the Ducks going to the Las Vegas Bowl as the Vegas Bowl gets to chose which Pac 10 team they want before the Emerald Bowl. The Emerald Bowl in San Fransico would like to pick the Ducks if they are still available when it is their turn to pick because of all the Oregon alumni in the San Francisco Bay Area and because they know a lot of Duck fans will drive down from Oregon for the game. I will drive down to the Emerald Bowl in SF but will not go to the Las Vagas Bowl. First, our family has already gone to this Bowl before, and Two, it is just before Christmas The fans for BYU have already bought up all the tickets for the Las Vegas Bowl except those reserved for the Pac 10 Fans. The Vegas Bowl is even adding bleachers in the open end of the stadium to accommodate all the BYU Fans who want to go to the game. It is already a sell out. BYU has even asked for any tickets not bought by the Pac 10 team's fans.Arizona State Unversity will go to the Bowl the Duck's don't unless UCLA shoud beat U$C next Satureday ( a long shot at best)Lets Go Ducks

Bill Moos To Resign As Athletic Director as Oregon

The Eugene Register Guard is reporting tonight that Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos is resigning as Athletic Director at the University of Oregon.(Click on the title above for a link to the news story)

Civil War Game Report

Got back to Medford from the game. In spite of the final score had a good time. Sat in a Beaver section on the new upper deck and the fans were polite and engaged in good natured banter. Near the end of the game they though they were going to lose. In fact everyone was friendly at the game. Went into the bookstore all dressed in my duck garb and a young girl said I guess you came in here to get some new clothes.

The new addition to Reser is nice but not as nice as Autzen. It was another rain swept game. Picture is of our section on the upper deck. Picture was taken at another game. I wore green.

I was very disappointed we came up short. I was pleased with the passion the team showed especially in the second half. At halftime I watched as the Ducks left the field and were harassed by Beaver fans along the rope line leading to the dressing room over at Gill Coliseum. A very stupid act by the Beavers because I think it was counter productive. Heck, I would have paid them to do it to light a fire under the Oregon team. This is why I never boo the visiting team at Autzen. However this harassment was more personal as it was on a personal up close basis. I saw one Duck player shake his finger at one beaver fan.

This team has not earned a bowl game but it will legally be required to go to a bowl probably the Emerald in San Francisco. The Bowl game should be used purely as a business trip and not as any kind of reward. Leaf has clearly earned the starting QB spot subject to how he performs in the Bowl game. We NEED a special teams coach. Only a bowl victory can salvage any respectability for this season and team. This seasons performance is not acceptable. and the coaches and players need to understand this. I am NOT calling for the replacement of any coach but the fans and administration need to light a fire under then to produce as the bottom line is again not acceptable. If players are not putting forth the required effort their scholarships should not be renewed. It is an honor to wear the Duck uniform and we expect every player to give 100%. Bellotti is a good coach and nice person.... sometimes too nice. Rich Brooks had his problems but if his team had performed as the Ducks did against Arizona after "throwing up" the team would not have needed to worry about their nice dressing room and plasma TVs as they would have been using the tunnels for their locker room after he took a sledge hammer to the TVs and put the locker room off limits. This team needs some "Tough Love." The worse thing that could happen is another Seattle Bowl in San Francisco.Lets Go Ducks!

UPDATE: Ron Bellamy of the Eugene Register Guard had some "right on" quotes in his column after the game:

"Maybe it's a testament to the modern college athlete, or at least this modern Oregon football team, that the Ducks gave great effort Friday, and their coach actually sounded, well, gratified, yes, but also somewhat relieved.

As if that wasn't a given, not something to be taken for granted, not even in the Civil War.....

Is that a step forward? Or, simply, the lack of another step back? Friday, the Ducks cared deeply about the game that every fan in the state cares about. We'll see, next month, how much they care about a bowl game that not many fans will."

Joey's Revenge!

Joey Harrington( Former University of Oregon QB) exorcised his turkey-day demons, throwing for three touchdown passes and 213 yards to lead the Miami Dolphins to their fourth straight win, a 27-10 Thanksgiving Day triumph over the Detroit Lions.

This was Harrington's first game in Detroit in a Miami uniform, as the former No. 3 overall draft pick by the Lions completed 19-of-29 passes with just one interception against the team that he mostly floundered for in his four-year stint as a Lion.

"When I came back on that field I remembered what happened the last four years," said Harrington. "It felt good to walk off a winner."

Joey Harrington led Oregon to a 2002 Fiesta Bowl win over Colorado.In the picture above he makes and Oregon "O" to celebrate the victory in the Fiesta Bowl. A truly nice person.

Movie: "Bobby" *****

I just got back from seeing the movie "Bobby". It's a very good movie that I highly recommend. I will definitely add it to my DVD collection when it comes out. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun Times has a review that is fairly descriptive of the movie although I liked the movie better than he does. He ends his review as follows:

Then again, 1968 was closer to 1941 than it is to 2006. For anyone under 45, the assassination of RFK is indeed ancient history -- not a memory of a dream dying. "Bobby" does a solid job of telling one generation what the world was like in the summer of 1968, and reminding another generation of a time when they believed a politician could change the world.

I was never a supporter of Bobby Kennedy but it was a fun trip back to the summer of 1968 when I was young, an idealist, and the girls were oh so good looking. In 1968 the world was a world of primary colors and I was so alive. It was a destructive period in American history but I will never forget it. ( To read all of Roeper's movie review click on the title above for a link.... also check out my post below about the movie)

Happy Thanksgiving

"Civil War" Week..... Why the Ducks will Win!

The following is a post I sent to my Go Ducks email group:

Some may think I am a off my rocker but I think the Ducks will win on Friday! My reasons are as follows:

1. The Ducks have more talent.

2. The Ducks have hit bottom and will be motivated. Their fans are down on them and for good reason. They are getting bad press even from the Register Guard. Their season is going into the tank and they know it. The only way they can live with themselves till next season is to go out and beat the Beavers. They have backed themselves into a corner and the only way out is to beat the Beavers. Their fancy uniforms, locker room and billboards mean nothing to them now. They have psychologically been striped of the superficial trappings of Oregon Football that made them soft.. They have nothing to loose but their respect for themselves. The "Tough Love" they have gotten from the fans will do the trick. They are not playing for El Paso but for their own self respect!

3. The Beavers will be overconfident. They are favored by the odds makers, the press, their fans and even most Duck fans. They have been told all week how down the Duck are. The know the home team is supposed to win and has in the last few years.

4 The Beavers are not that good. U$C handed the game to them and they still almost lost it. They lost to a UCLA team two weeks ago the Ducks beat. We beat the Beavers 56 to 14 last year.

5. The Oregon coaches know the importance of this game and will give it the type of preparation they did for ASU.

6. We will not field punt receptions or kick off returns .( Joke)

7 Leaf will start ( I hope)

I know I am in the minority on this but it doesn't matter. If I am wrong I will feel just as bad as if I forecast a loss to begin with.They have broken my heart before. I agree with most of the criticism of the last few weeks. But, I stayed till the end of the Arizona game and will be in Corvallis on Friday sitting in a Beaver section with my green and yellow. Lets Go Ducks!

Happy Thanksgiving

GAME UPDATE: Close but no cigar!

"Civil War" Week ....110th Game

One of my favorite "Civil War" game stories is from WWII. One of the Band of Brothers featured in the HBO mini series, Don Malarkey, is a University of Oregon alum. His studies were interrupted by WWII and he was in the paratroopers in England preparing for the D- Day invasion. Eisenhower and Churchill came to view his unit before the beginning of the invasion and Ike asks Malarkey what he did before the war. He said he was a student at the University of Oregon in Eugene, and Ike asks him who won the last Oregon vs Oregon State Football game. Of course Ike played football for Army at West Point. Lets Go Ducks.... Lets Go Ducks....Lets Go Ducks

"Civil War" Week...... I Will Be There!

Most people today are thinking about Thanksgiving tomorrow. Not me! Our kids will not be home ( they are coming home for Christmas)because our Son is in North Dakota and our Daughter is in Washington DC. No, I am thinking about the Friday after Thanksgiving when the University of Oregon Ducks play the Oregon State Beavers in Football. It's the "Civil War" game and they have been playing it for over 100 years.They have been playing the game since 1896. The game is in Corvallis at Oregon State and I will be there! A Friend of mine was able to come up with two tickets and we will leave Medford at 6:30 am for the game. Yes, the game is on the Friday after Thanksgiving the "biggest shopping day of the year." the Oregon State Athletic Director is so desperate for TV money he moved the game for TV.

This has not been a good season for the Oregon Ducks. They have lost to Cal, U$C Washington State and to Arizona. None of the loses were even close.... they were all "blow outs" and many Ducks fans have given up on the team. There were even boos
from the Duck fans at the last home game against Arizona last Saturday. The general feeling among Duck fans is the football team is talented lazy and soft. Insiders say they have lost their confidence. They think Dennis Dixon the QB is unable to read opposition defenses and can't throw deep. Most folks in the State of Oregon, including most Duck fans, are predicting an Oregon State Win. I will be in Corvallis at Parker Stadium for the Game. Mr Reser has not paid me to call it Reser Stadium!

I swore in 1998 I would not go back to Parker (Reser) Stadium. My son and I went up there in 1998 and saw the Ducks lose to the Beavers in double overtime in a rain swept game. There was a Beaver girl sitting next to me who screamed the entire game and went into the fetal position every time the Ducks did something good. I swear she was the girl who was hit by the goal posts after the game when the drunken Beaver fans tore down the goal posts. She was injured and her picture was in all the news papers.

In 1992 I went to the game in Corvallis with my two kids and it was another rain swept November game. We had seats on open bleachers in the end zone and it blew so hard our ponchos were in our faces and we had to hold them down. At half time the ducks lead 7 to 0 and we took a vote to "go or stay" for the second half and I lost! We left for the drive back to Medford and listened to the second half on the car radio. There was not another score in the game and the Ducks won 7 to 0. On the way back to the car a Beaver fan stole my young Son's Duck hat off of his head as he ran by. Now you know why I hate the Beavers.

My wife, before she was my wife went with me to Corvallis in 1974 for a rain swept game and has refused to ever go back.

Yesterday the University of Oregon Athletic Department said they had not sold their allotment of tickets for the game ..... apparently not many Duck fans want to go to Corvallis. Yesterday at our "Civil War" lunch, here in Medford, some duck fans were astounded that my friend and I were going to Corvallis for the game and warned us to be careful. They said to not leave any Duck paraphernalia on our car in fear that some drunk Beaver fan would damage it and were amazed we would wear Duck clothing to the game. Some Beaver fans ( notice to my Beaver friends I said "Some")are real "red necks" and hate the Ducks. An old time duck fan yesterday at our Civil War lunch said they would run up the score 100 point on us if they could!

In December of 1776 in the dark days of the Revolutionary war when it looked like the British would put down the rebellion in the American Colony's Thomas Paine said:"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

Well I know this is not as important as the American Revolution and it's "just a game" but in this time of doubt and crisis for Oregon Ducks I will go to Corvallis and show my Duck colors and support the Ducks! The weather man predicts another rain swept game. Go Ducks!

"Civil War" Week

"Civil War" Week

Has the West Lost it's Nerve?

Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institution as Stanford University has a good essay on the terrorist threat and the lack of resolve by the West:

Intelligence sources announce that Iran is seeking to replace al Qaeda as the foremost anti-Western global terrorist organization. Not to be outdone, Al Qaeda is said to be desperately seeking a nuclear device. This is precisely at the time President Ahmadinejad announces the next step of uranium enrichment and more promises to end Israel.
International inspectors report that traces of plutonium are found in Iranian nuclear waste sites. The results of a terrorist with a plutonium-laced suicide belt in the New York Stock Exchange, the Mall of America, the Louvre, the Vatican, or the Harvard Library are like a water spill into a computer hard drive--the tiny drop unseen to the naked eye as it shuts down a way of life.

There is wealth aplenty pouring into Iran and Iraq through oil that is sold at a high price in a world market whose sanctity is ultimate protected by the United States. So the poverty there of radical Islam is not material, but one of the soul......They obviously want Western technology--whether the Internet or the plastic munition--but never the decadence of freedom, democracy, and tolerance that creates the very appurtenances they crave....Such parasitism proves no lasting palliative, but only the goad for more envy and frustration. The stark truth is that the radical Middle East is religiously observant, but spiritually poor.

Next, examine the Western political response to all this Middle Eastern madness. The recent November election made it clear that the American public is tired of Iraq, tired of the televised bombings, tired of the Middle East and just wants to be left alone, to go home or to "redeploy."

A once stalwart Tony Blair now praises Iran and welcomes back terrorist-sponsoring Teheran and Damascus for negotiations..... It is understandable to want to talk with the Iranians and avoid unnecessary confrontation, but only on the understanding that the theocracy there is trying to destroy Israel and kill Americans working to protect democracy in Iraq. Thinking Syria or Iran could tolerate a constitutional republic in Iraq on its borders is like imagining that Hitler could have lived with a democratic Poland or Czechoslovakia next door or the old Soviet Union would have tolerated a free Ukraine.

Americans in their televised wrangling seem traumatized over Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, the Patriot Act, and wiretaps. For many George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld are far greater threats than Osama bin Laden. Indeed, without a care for the thousands tortured by Saddam or dismembered by the terrorists, American leftists now seek to indict (in Germany of all places!) the former Secretary of Defense on charges such as subjecting detainees to "religious humiliation." Religious humiliation? Is war now to be played out on Court TV or ape the hurt feelings of Sunday morning television?

In short, while the Islamists get bolder and crazier, we become more timid and all too rational, quibbling over this terrorist's affinities and that militia's particular grievances--in hopes of cutting some magical deal with an imaginary moderate imam or nonexistent reasonable militia chief or Middle East dictator.

Well beyond us now is any overarching Churchillian vision of our enemies. We lack the practical understanding of an FDR that all of these Islamists loathe us far more than they despise each other. Their infighting, after all, is like the transitory bickering of thieves over the division of loot that always pales before their shared hatred of the targeted bank owner.

So we are at a crossroads of all places in Iraq. The war there has metamorphosized from a successful effort to remove a mass-murdering dictator into the frontlines of the entire struggle between Islamic radicalism and Western liberality. If we withdraw before the elected government stabilizes, the consequences won't just be the loss of the perceptions of power, but perhaps the loss of real power. What follows won't be the impression that we are weak, but the fact that we are--as we convince ourselves we cannot win against such horrific enemies, and so should never again try.

(Click on the title above for a link to the entire essay)

Thanksgiving 1863 (During The Real Civil War)

From Newt Gingrich the History Professor:

The Civil War was raging. Three months earlier, the Battle of Gettysburg had left 50,000 Americans killed, wounded or missing. Riots were tearing apart American cities.

In the midst of this chaos, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in October 1863 that the last Thursday of November should henceforth be set aside as a day of thanksgiving.

Lincoln acknowledged that the nation was "in the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity." But he focused instead on the nation's blessings, urging his fellow Americans to remember that "No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy."

And Lincoln, too, proclaimed that all Americans set aside the day for a public expression of gratitude to God. He wrote, "It has seemed to me fit and proper that they [gifts of God] should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people."

"Civil War" Week

An old time favorite. Go Ducks Beat the Beavers!

Oregon Duck Football

"I'm a little wounded but I'm not slain; I will lay me down for to bleed awhile, Then I'll rise and fight with you again"
John Dryden

I stayed to the very end of the Oregon/Arizona game and it was awful and broke my heart and a terrible way to end the last season home game at Autzen. I am just glad my kids were not there... it was a slaughter.

Go Ducks.... time to rise and fight the Oregon State Beavers.... it's "Civil War" week.... " The Game for the right to live in the State of Oregon" If they can't get up for this game they should turn in their uniforms. ....Let's Go Ducks....Let's Go Ducks....Let's Go Ducks....Let's Go Ducks.....Let's Go Ducks

DVD Movie Collection

It is fun to collect and catalog a DVD movie collection on the Internet. The links below will take you to two of the sites where I catalog my collection of DVD Movies:


href="http://www.intervocative.com/DVDCollection.aspx/duck464">

href="http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?id=james+wickre">>

Arizona Coach Mike Stoops.....class act...NOT

The University of Arizona Wildcats football team and their coach Mike Stoops are coming to Autzen Stadium in Eugene to play the Oregon Ducks this weekend. We need to give him a big welcome! This is what he said as quoted on Oregon Live Ducks Blog

"We lost but at least we took out a couple of their quarterbacks." That's what Stoops said after Oregon used third string quarterback Brady Leaf to beat them anyway last year. Hmmm, sounds like another class act. This time Coach Redface has to face the music and chaos of Autzen Stadium though. I'm not saying it should be especially loud for the Wildcats. But if they play the way they did against Cal, they'll give Oregon everything they can handle and then some.

His team ended Clemens' career last year and gloated about it. Then knocked out Dixon with a cheap shot to the head when it looked like he was sliding to protect himself. Coach Redface can yell and scream and carry-on all he wants on Saturday. If the Duck fans have enough pride, he won't be heard anyway.

The noise level at Saturday's game? Even if you feel like there's nothing to yell about, scream a little for Kellen. And remind Stoops that Ducks fans haven't forgotten.

Are you ready for some football! Go Ducks!

Milton Friedman RIP

Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman has died at the age of 94, according to media reports Thursday. Friedman, one of the most influential economists of the past century, died last night, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site, citing an official at the Cato Institute in Washington. Friedman was a professor at the University of Chicago from 1946 until 1976. He was awarded the Nobel in 1976. A true lover of freedom!


UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal Said it best today; "On the death of Ronald Reagan, whom he advised, Mr. Friedman wrote on these pages that "few people in human history have contributed more to the achievement of human freedom." The same can and long will be said of Milton Friedman."

"Cut and Run" or How the Democrats Lost the War on Terrorism!

I picked this up over at Polipundit.com:

As I watched the election results my heart sank thinking about our troops in Iraq. They must be so demoralized. The irony is that the people who are or have family members serving in Iraq are the most determined to see the mission through while the fat, lazy slobs back home don't have the stomach for it. I don't know what is going to happen to the country when a substantial majority are so gutless that it is too hard for them to watch the conflict on TV.

At this point I don't know what we should do. I hate the idea of more Americas dying when there is no will to win. I never thought that the American people would stand by and listen to that idiot in Iran admonishing us that "we must behave"What happened to pride? Maybe these colors do run.

Movie: "Bobby"

"Bobby" opens Thanksgiving Day. Even if it has a liberal message I will go to this movie. I remember the day in 1968 like it was yesterday. I was a Junior at the University of Oregon and was studying for a final for Speech class and had hay fever real bad .My parents were on a trip back from Europe and were staying at the New Oregon Motel across the street but I hadn't seen them yet because of studying for the final in my dorm room. I turned on ABC for their California Presidential Primary special and they came to the end of the half hour special and they were ready to sign off and they started to obviously stall in ending the broadcast and then switched to the ballroom were people were screaming and crying. A few minuets before I had seen Bobby claim victory over Gene McCarthy and said "On to Chicago" where the Democratic convention was to be held. I had seen him in person a little more than week before (the Sunday before the Oregon primary) at the Lane County Fairgrounds. He lost to Gene McCarthy in Oregon but won in California. It was going to be a fight all the way to the convention and then a real contested convention.It all ended that night. Click on the title above for a link to the Internet Movie Data Base page for the movie.

Movie: "The Fountainhead" *****

As an antidote for this weeks events I watched the movie made from Ayn Rand's novel "The Fountainhead" (1949) on DVD. Gary Cooper is Howard Roark and Patricia Neal is Dominique.The movie is a good introduction to Ayn Rand's philosophy of Ojectivism which is a libertarian philosophy that values individual freedom over the collectivism. Most liberals hate this movie but I love it. It was only released on DVD this week and it is a very nice copy of the movie. In the past I had only seen it on VHS tape.Patricia Neal is beautiful in this movie and she and Cooper are electric in their scenes together. I understand that they had a love affair off screen while the movie was being made.

Ducks Lose to U$C

This has not been a good week! Arizona comes to Autzen next week for our last home game. Go Ducks!

Google Ignores Veterans Day

Found this over on Free Republic.com

Google, which frequently celebrates minor holidays like Halloween with special changes to their trademark, today ignored Veteran's Day. They have noted Halloween, Google's 8th Anniversary, Persian New Year, Martin Luther King Day & the World Cup, among other holidays this year. Veteran's Day is meaningless to them.

UPDATE: Apparently they don't celebrate Memorial Day either! This from last Memorial day over on Newsbusters.com

NewsBusters reader Mr. Snuggles has pointed out something conspicuously absent from Google’s various pages today – any reference to Memorial Day.

I’m sure most Googlers are extremely aware of how Google will dress up its logo at its web search or news pages in honor of holidays or special occasions. Google has been known to do this on Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, etc. In fact, here is a display of all the Google holiday logos so far this year, and since 1999. You’ll even find that Google celebrated Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birthday just a week ago. For those scratching their heads, he created Sherlock Holmes.

Yet, if you go to Google’s home page here, or its news page here, you will see nothing commemorating today’s national holiday. By contrast, Google did honor the Persian New Year on March 21, as well as Louis Braille’s birthday on January 4.

Furthermore, if you go back through the Google archives, you'll find that, although it has over the years commemorated Shichi-go-san being celebrated in Japan, Bastille Day in France, and Korean Liberation Day, it appears that Google has never dressed up its logo for Memorial Day.

Why might that be?

Ducks vs U$C

The Oregon Ducks vs the U$C Trojans in the Coliseum in Los Angles at 7:15 PM on Fox Sports Northwest. There is a rumor the Ducks may wear their new white helmets for the first time. Go Ducks

Armistice Day!

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month 1918 the guns fell silent along the Western Front and an armistice was signed ending World War I. "The war to end all wars." November 11th thus became a holiday known as Armistice Day. After World War II the name was changed to Veterans Day. In Medford, in a park near the National Guard Armory, there are trees planted for each boy from Jackson County who died in World War I. There are a lot of trees. The picture is of Joseph Ambrose, an 86-year-old World War I veteran, attending the dedication day parade for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982. He is holding the flag that covered the casket of his son, who was killed in the Korean War.

Veterans' Day 2006

George M. Cohan wrote the song "Over There" just as the United States entered World War I and it became the anthem for the American soldiers going to France to fight the German "Hun"

Johnnie, get your gun,
Get your gun, get your gun,
Take it on the run,
On the run, on the run.
Hear them calling, you and me,
Every son of liberty.
Hurry right away,
No delay, go today,
Make your daddy glad
To have had such a lad.
Tell your sweetheart not to pine,
To be proud her boy's in line.
(chorus sung twice)

Johnnie, get your gun,
Get your gun, get your gun,
Johnnie show the Hun
Who's a son of a gun.
Hoist the flag and let her fly,
Yankee Doodle do or die.
Pack your little kit,
Show your grit, do your bit.
Yankee to the ranks,
From the towns and the tanks.
Make your mother proud of you,
And the old Red, White and Blue.
(chorus sung twice)

Chorus
Over there, over there,
Send the word, send the word over there -
That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming,
The drums rum-tumming
Ev'rywhere.
So prepare, say a pray'r,
Send the word, send the word to beware.
We'll be over, we're coming over,
And we won't come back till it's over
Over there

Their all, almost gone now!

-- Ernest Charles Pusey, 111 years old and nattily attired in a dress shirt and light blue cardigan, smiled slightly when Gov. Jeb Bush walked in his trailer Friday and gave him a medal for helping win World War I.

Pusey - his friends call him ``Ernie''- wasn't feeling too talkative but seemed to enjoy the hubbub surrounding the awarding of his World War I Victory Medal and a visit from the governor on the day before Veteran's Day.


``It looks pretty good, doesn't it?'' Bush said, placing the glass-encased medal on the table next to Pusey's recliner.

Pusey is indeed special. He's one of just 15 living World War I veterans _ out of nearly 5 million who served _ and the only one in Florida.


Over there,... Over there,... the Yanks are coming, ...the Yanks are coming and they won't be back till it's over.... over there!

News

The news has been so bad this week that as Simon and Garfunkel say : "I get all the news I need in the weather report."

"Sheets Byrd" or Is the honymoon over?

Over at National Review on line they have a quote from Professor of Government at Claremont Mckenna college John J Pitney Jr:

"So unless there is a last-minute miracle in Virginia, Robert Byrd will again be president pro tem of the U.S. Senate. I know it's un-clubby and all that, but it would be fun if a Republican senator proposed a "sense of the Senate" resolution that no former member of the Ku Klux Klan should be in the line of succession to the presidency. Let's see Democrats vote against that. Just a thought."

His nickname is "Sheets Byrd"..... I guess the Honeymoon is over!

Thankyou Don Rumsfeld

This from polipundit.com

"Not good enough to lick his boots

Rumsfeld was an is an estimable man and rendered great service to this nation. He was of superior (very superior) intelligence and tough as hell. He suffered fools rather easily and for longer than anyone should have done so. It is always a practice for very average people to demean and try to dimish the accomplishments and abilities of their superiors....
Good bye Mr. Rumsfeld and may you live long and well and see your dreams for Iraq come to fruition. Long after these carping jackals have left the scene there will be those of us who will recall your "finest hour"

I Love the guy!

2006 election

"I'm a little wounded but I'm not slain; I will lay me down for to bleed awhile, Then I'll rise and fight with you again"
John Dryden

Hugh B Collins 1919-2006

This morning I read in the Medford Mail Tribune that Hugh B Collins died. Hugh was a Medford attorney and he was the senior partner of the law firm that hired me out of law school. He was born August 14, 1919 and died in Medford November 4, 2006. Hugh was an American Original. Hugh was cantankerous, brilliant, eccentric and the world will be a duller place without him. He had a nick name for everyone and mine for some reason was "Haimie" (Hi me). He also called me P.V. for Prince Valiant because I had long hair just out of law school. In the last few years I saw him from time to time at the Jackson County Justice Building. He always had a friendly word. I remember a few years ago we had an office Christmas party for Jackson County Attorneys and Hugh brought one of his dogs who loved our food. I will miss Hugh.

BEFORE YOU CAST YOUR VOTE TO "PUNISH THE REPUBLICANS" FOR NOT BEING CONSERVATIVE ENOUGHT

I found this over a Free Republic.com by Doug from Upland:

These delusional leftists really don't believe that Iraq is critical to our war on terror. Many don't even believe there is a war on terror, despite the fact that almost every conflict around the world is because of ISLAMIC FASCISM.

I am angry that we have not closed the border. I am angry that this president and congress have spent WAY, WAY TOO MUCH MONEY! I am angry that they allowed Miguel Estrada to be trashed, rather than using the Constitutional Option. Yes, I am angry at all of that and more.


Some of you may make your protest vote to teach the Republicans a lesson. Some of you may say that your party left you and it doesn't matter what party is in power. Before that protest vote, however, consider these guys.


The lesson that will really be taught is that the spectre of Vietnam has come back to haunt us. What will happen to their morale if the cut and run Democrats are in charge? How much will it embolden the enemy? What will it do to any of our allies, who will see that America will run away for political considerations? Why would they take any risk to ever help us again?


The most important war of our generation is being fought right now. It is the most important issue of our generation. If Winston Churchill or Ronald Reagan were still alive, they would be out front warning Western Civilization about the consequences.


I understand the protest vote. But I hope those who sit it out or vote the other way also understand the consequences. The Democrats are not going to shut the border. We will get amnesty. The Democrats are going to hold impeachment hearings. They will not allow a Supreme Court nomination to reach the floor for a vote. They will take whatever action they can to hurt the prosecution of the war in Iraq. And, they will take whatever action they need to take to set up 2008 for complete control of the government.

If an Islamic state takes over in Iraq after a bloodbath of a couple million people, the flow of oil may stop. They will be able to cause an economic catastrophe without even one more attack on our soil.

The left is naive about how to deal with evil. They have shown that over and over again. Unfortunately, they look to be in a very strong position to take over. They really will get us all killed.

STAND FIRM REPUBLICANS

Stand firm Republicans the tide is turning. This from Polipundit.com:

"What you are hearing is a collective sigh of Republican relief after this latest round of data has come in,” one high-level Republican consultant in Washington told me. “Word is already starting to spread that the prophesied ‘tidal wave’ might only be a ripple.”

One high-profile Republican pundit could hardly contain his glee that the prognosticators would be proved wrong, again. “If the present Republican surge is real and continues through Tuesday, Charlie Cook, Stu Rothenberg, and John Zogby will be stripped bare of any credibility when it comes to predicting electoral outcomes,” he stated. “Personally, I hope they go out of business.”

Specifically, sources tell me that the Tennessee, Missouri, and Montana Senate races continue to trend toward the Republicans. Michael Steele, the Republican nominee for US Senate in Maryland is in a dead heat with Ben Cardin. Even Senate races Republicans have written off are showing positive trends: Mike DeWine in Ohio and Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania are said to be “surging.”

In the House Republicans are now rapidly lowering estimates of how many seats they might lose. “Whereas a week ago we were looking at the possibility of losing 25 seats, we now think that number is closer to 10,” a Congressional Republican insider told me. “But it could come down to seven if positive trends continue in Connecticut and in the Sunbelt.”

To read more click on the title above for a link to Polipundit.com. Also check out Realclear Politics and the National Review Blogs.

DEATH TO A TYRANT!

SADDAM HUSSEIN was convicted and sentenced Sunday to hang by the neck untill dead for crimes against humanity in the 1982 killings of 148 people in a single Shiite town, DEATH TO THE BUTCHER OF BAGHDAD ! A GOOD DAY FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

DucksWin! Beat the Huskies!

It's always a good day when the Oregon Ducks beat the Washington Huskies in football. The Ducks won in Eugene today at Autzen Stadium 34 to 14 . My wife and I had a nice day in Eugene. It was supposed to rain but as they say "It never rains in Autzen Stadium" and the rain held off till after the game. On the way home we had a late dinner at the The Riverside Restaurant at Seven Feathers in Canyonville. We left this morning at 7:30 and we got home about 8:30 pm. A very nice day. Saw lots of Medford folks in Eugene and it was the game they give out the football cards of the players. I have collected the last 17 years. Even better when I got home I checked the Internet it looks like there is some movement in the polls toward the Republican.Yes, it was a good day. On to U$C in the Coliseum in LA next Saturday night. Go Ducks!

Washington Week Part III

Washington Week Part III: The Game Day Experience (reprint from last year)

If you are an Oregon Duck fan living in Medford, Oregon, attending a University of Oregon home football game is at least a 14- hour experience. That is 6 hours of driving , 3 hr from Medford to Eugene and 3 hours back, 2 hours of pre game fun and eating,4 hours of actual game and an hour to get back to the car after the game and an hour to eat on the way home. I attend all home games which is usually 6 each fall. Southern Oregon fans are a hearty lot. Our usual plan for a 12:30 pm kick off is to get up at 6 am and leave Medford at 7:30 AM. Stop for gas in Canyonville at the Seven Feathers gas station . They have clean restrooms. It fun to see other Duck fans going to the game in I-5 with their cars and vans decorated in yellow and green. By the time we get to Cottage Grove I can pick up Jerry Allen and the Duck pre game radio show. WE pull into Eugene by 10:30 AM and park on the campus side of the Willamette River. I like to park behind the New Oregon Motel at an office-building parking lot where they charge $10.00. From there we walk to the footbridge over the Willamette River. I like to walk from campus as it makes me feel like a student again. On the bridge is a guy who plays a saxophone for donations. The Oregon fight song is a big money maker. After we cross the bridge there is a winding paved trail through some woods. It is shaded and cool on a hot day. There are people on the trail selling Oregon Tee shirts. Free enterprise is wonderful. There are also the ticket scalpers. As you come out of the woods , standing in all it's glory, is Autzen Stadium. If you have ever seen the movie Camelot it's like the scene where King Arthur and Guinevere after they meet in the forest come out of it and there stands Camelot in all it's glory. After entering the front gate I always buy a program. $5.00...yekes and head for the Mochofsky Center or as we call it the Mo Center. The Mochofsky Center is the indoor practice facility but on game day it is a huge tail gate party with live music, TV monitors with college football games from all over the country, beer, the radio and TV pre game shows, Duck shop with all the Duck paraphernalia you would ever want, and a food court. We grab a table and get our lunch from the food court and spend an hour or so eating and just watching people. To say the least Duck fans are a zany bunch . Duck fans all dress individually in as many different outfits as there are people. However they do it in a green and yellow way. After lunch we head for the stadium. We go up the main staircase on the new South side. Thanks Phil Knight. From there we work our way around the concourse to the North side to section 13. We have had season tickets there for years and the same people always sit around us. We then settle in for the pre game warm ups. Then the big screen on the scoreboard plays highlights of past games to get the crowd ready for the game. The high lights always end with "the pick" as described below. The team is then led on to the field by a Duck on a motorcycle . The South side of the stadium then chants GO and the North side says DUCKS. There is nothing like 55,000 people chanting GO DUCKS over and over to get the crowd into a excited frenzy. The game starts. I like to bring my radio and listen to Jerry Allen and Mike Jorgensen broadcast it. . As I have said before it is like listening to the game with two friends. After the approximately 4 hour game we wait till most of the crowd has left the stands and we head for the field. At Autzen fans can go onto the field after the two teams have left. We then work our way back across the Willamette River footbridge to our car and the 3 hr trip home.Sometimes we get pizza or Chinese food in Eugene before we head home. I love Rolling Rapids Pizza ( Pietro's old location between Eugene and Springfield)I went there in 1967 after my first game at Autzen. It was also Autzen's first game.On the way home we listened to the post game radio show and usually lose it at Canyonville before we go over the mountains. Sometime we stop in Roseberg for dinner. Did I mention there are 4 passes in the Cascade Mountains between Eugene and Medford. Back home I go online to see what my Duck friends are saying about the game and try and find a late Pac 10 game on TV. At 11:30PM they show a replay of the game. If the Ducks have won I try and watch it until I fall asleep. A full day experience and I LOVE IT. Go Ducks beat the Huskies.

Oregon vs Washinton Football Week! Get the Spirit!

A family of University of Washington football supporters head out one Saturday to the Seattle outlet mall to do their back to school shopping.

While in the sports shop the son picks up an Oregon Duck jersey and says to his older sister, "I've decided to become an Oregon Duck fan and I would like to wear this to school"...

The sister is outraged by this and promptly whacks him in the head and says, "Go talk to mother"...

Off goes the little lad with the Duck jersey in hand and finds his mother...

"Mom?"

"Yes son?"

"I've decided to become a Duck fan and I would like to buy this jersey."

Mom promptly whacks him in the head and says, "Go talk to your father!"

Off he goes with the jersey in hand to find his father...

"Dad?"

"Yes son?"

I've decided I'm going to be an Oregon fan and I would like to buy this jersey."

The father is outraged and whacks his son in the head and says, "No son of mine is ever going to be seen in THAT CRAP!"

About an hour later they're all back in the car heading home...

The father turns to his son and says, "Son, I hope you learned something today."

The son says, "Yes, Dad, I did."...

"Good son, what did you learn?"

To which the son replies, "I've only been an Oregon fan for an hour and I already hate you Husky Jerks."

Get in the spirit folks! It's Husky week!

New York Times Proves Bush Was right about Iraq & WMD

Today the New York Times in a botched attempt to smear George W Bush and the Republicans proved that George Bush was right that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had an active Nuclear development program before the United States invaded Iraq. To read the botched smear click on the title above for a link to the New York Times attempted hit piece.If the Iraqi Nuclear program was far enough along to help Iran as alleged by the New York Time then it was far enough along to help Iraq develop their own nuclear program and threaten the United States and our allies in the Middle East. The New York times just outfoxed themselves four days before an election.

Among the dozens of documents in English were Iraqi reports written in the 1990’s and in 2002 for United Nations inspectors in charge of making sure Iraq abandoned its unconventional arms programs after the Persian Gulf war. Experts say that at the time, Mr. Hussein’s scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away.

This from Jim Geraghty of National Review:

I’m sorry, did the New York Times just put on the front page that IRAQ HAD A NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM AND WAS PLOTTING TO BUILD AN ATOMIC BOMB?

What? Wait a minute. The entire mantra of the war critics has been “no WMDs, no WMDs, no threat, no threat", for the past three years solid. Now we’re being told that the Bush administration erred by making public information that could help any nation build an atomic bomb.

Let’s go back and clarify: IRAQ HAD NUCLEAR WEAPONS PLANS SO ADVANCED AND DETAILED THAT ANY COUNTRY COULD HAVE USED THEM.

I think the Times editors are counting on this being spun as a “Boy, did Bush screw up” meme; the problem is, to do it, they have to knock down the “there was no threat in Iraq” meme, once and for all. Because obviously, Saddam could have sold this information to anybody, any other state, or any well-funded terrorist group that had publicly pledged to kill millions of Americans and had expressed interest in nuclear arms. You know, like, oh… al-Qaeda.

The New York Times just tore the heart out of the antiwar argument, and they are apparently completely oblivous to it.
The antiwar crowd is going to have to argue that the information somehow wasn’t dangerous in the hands of Saddam Hussein, but was dangerous posted on the Internet. It doesn’t work. It can’t be both no threat to America and yet also somehow a threat to America once it’s in the hands of Iran. Game, set, and match.

... I can see that every stop has been pulled out to ensure that a reader will believe that posting these documents was a strategic blunder of the first order.

But the story retains its own inherent contradiction: The information in these documents is so dangerous, that every step must be taken to ensure it doesn't end up in the wrong hands... except for topping the regime that actually has the documents.

(By the way, is it just me, or is the article entirely devoid of any indication that Iran actually accessed the documents? This threat that, "You idiot! Iran could access all the documents!" is entirely speculative. If the government servers hosting the web site have signs that Iranian web browsers accessed those pages, it's a different story; my guess is somebody already knows the answer to that question.)

I'm still kinda blown away by this paragraph:

Among the dozens of documents in English were Iraqi reports written in the 1990’s and in 2002 for United Nations inspectors in charge of making sure Iraq abandoned its unconventional arms programs after the Persian Gulf war. Experts say that at the time, Mr. Hussein’s scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away.
Is this sentence referring to 1990, before the Persian Gulf War? Or 2002, months before the invasion of Iraq? Because "Iraq is a year away from building a nuclear bomb" was supposed to be a myth, a lie that Bush used to trick us into war.

And yet here is the New York Times, saying that Iraq had a "how to manual" on how to build a nuclear bomb, and could have had a nuke in a year.

In other news, it's good to see that the New York Times is firmly against publicizing sensitive and classified information. Unless, of course, they're the ones doing it.

Independence Bowl 1989

In 1989 my then grade school age son and I traveled to Shreveport Louisiana to watch the Oregon Ducks play the Tulsa. Oregon had not been to a Bowl Game since the 1963 Sun Bowl.That is 26 loooong football seasons without a Bowl Game. I went through college both undergrad and law school and two year in the Army without a Bowl Game. Oregon Athletic Director Bill Byrne had to purchase 14,000 tickets for $350,00 to secure Oregon's invitation. My college friend Gaines Smith and I had spent many Saturdays watching the Ducks lose more games than they won and often talked about going to a Bowl Game if the Ducks were invited. Well in 1989 the Ducks got that invitation. Unfortunately Gaines did not live to see that day. However I was going to go. My son and I flew on a "milk run" from Medford to San Francisco, to Denver and then to Dallas Texas. We then drove a rental car across the plains of Texas to Marshall Texas and got a motel room. The next day we drove to Shreveport for the game. It was a NIGHT game in which the temperature, with the wind-chill factor, was below zero. IT WAS COLD on those open metal stands in Shreveport. I kept worrying that my wife would kill me if our son got frost bite. Oregon trailed in the game and it seemed to get colder. There were 5000 Oregon fans who followed the Ducks to Shreveport. Most of the Tulsa fans left because of the cold but the Ducks and their fans would not give up . QB Bill Musgrave led the Ducks back with two touchdowns and a field goal to win the game 27 to 24. It then got a lot warmer. This trip was my young son's first plane ride and he became a hard core Duck fan. It was truly a bonding experience. For college he chose to go to Willamette University. Willamette is a Liberal Arts college in Salem Oregon. However, each season he would often travel to Eugene to meet me for a game and a meal during the four years he was at Willamette. He is now a Teaching Assistant/Grad Student in History in the Midwest and will miss this season. I miss him. He however listens to the games, not on TV, on the Internet.

Since 1989 the entire family has followed the Ducks to the Freedom Bowl in Anaheim California in 1990, the Rose Bowl in 1995, The Las Vegas Bowl in 1997 and the Holiday bowl last year. My Son and I took a road trip to the Fiesta bowl in Tempe Arizona for the January 1st 2002 Fiesta Bowl game with Colorado and watched the Ducks win. We also traveled to the Seattle Bowl one year. However we will always remember with fondness that first Bowl Game together in Shreveport Louisiana. GO DUCKS!

Washington Week Part II: "The Pick"

I have reedited a post I made last year for "Washington Week" the week the Oregon Ducks play the Washington Huskies in football. In Washington Week Part I (posted below) I outlined why Oregon fans learned to hate the Huskies and were always losing to them. Now on to Part II.

Washington Week Part II: "The Pick"

On October 22, 1994, Oregon football changed. The 1994 season didn't start out that way. Oregon lost to Hawaii, Utah and Washington State. There were only 25,000 fans at Autzen for Utah. At that game I looked around the parking lot and wondered "where is everybody?." The Ducks had beaten U$C in LA but we though it was a fluke. Then came the Washington game in Eugene on October 22. I didn't want to drive three hours from Medford to Eugene to watch another Washington "blow out" of the Ducks. ( see post below) I had been there too many times before. In those days with two teenage children at home my kids took turns going to the games with me as we had two season tickets. It was my daughter's turn and so we drove to Eugene. I always like to park on the campus side of the Willamette River and take the footbridge over to Autzen. On a nice day it's a wonderful walk over the river and through the woods to Autzen. I parked on Franklin Blvd. and walked by the New Oregon Motel. It was full of Husky fans. We had also stopped by the book-store on campus and it was full of Husky fans. We got to the game and took our seats and the game started. Washington was ranked the # 9 team in the nation. Oregon kept it close. Oregon was leading by four points when Washington scored to go ahead 20 - 17 with 7:44 minutes to play. The game seemed to unfold as it had so often. "nice try"..." a moral victory" ... "close but no cigar". NOT THIS TIME. Danny O'Neil Oregon's QB led the Ducks on a 98 yard drive to regain the lead. It will forever be known as "the Drive." The Ducks now led 24-17 with 2:40 to go in the game. Washington then started their own drive and advanced to the Duck 8 yard line with 1:09 to play. With each yard the Huskies made every Duck fan knew that Washington would score and win the game as they had so many times before. " So close, but no cigar." Then there was a play that will live forever in every Duck heart. Washington had plenty of time to give the ball to heralded tail back Napolean Kaufman. Instead, QB Damon Huard threw the ball in the flat toward Dave Janoski. Kenny Wheaton the Oregon CB timed the throw perfectly and stepped in front of the Washington receiver and intercepted the ball and ran it all the way back for another Duck touchdown to win the game 31-20. I was standing watching the play with my daughter. We both began to jump up and down!!! We then hugged as we both jumped up and down!!!. It was redemption! My daughter and I will always have that moment in time. On my dying day I will remember it. The play became known as "THE PICK". It is shown on the big screen at every Oregon game just as the team comes on the field. Jerry Allen the radio broadcaster's call of the play has become a favorite of Duck fans "KENNY WHEATON'S GOING TO SCORE....KENNY WHEATON'S GOING TO SCORE" I have a framed print of the play hanging in my office. After the game the many Husky fans looked crushed. The three hour trip back to Medford was like floating on air. Oregon went on to win the Pac 10 Championship that year and the entire family went to the Rose Bowl. It was the Ducks first time since 1958.

This, Saturday, November 4th,2006, we play Washington in Autzen again. That daughter who went with me to the game, 12 years ago, is now an adult having graduated from college and lives and works in Washington DC. She will be with me in spirit as we play the Washington Huskies again at home in Autzen Stadium, home of the University of Oregon Ducks. They will again as the teams come out on the field replay the "The Pick" on the stadiums big screen TV and I will remember that day 12 years ago.
Win or lose we will always remember "The pick" Go Ducks! Beat the Huskies! (some information in this post is from " Oregon Ducks Football 100 years of Glory 1894 to 1995")

John Kerry Through the Years

Kerry in 1972 from an AP story:

During a Vietnam-era run for Congress three decades ago, John Kerry said he opposed a volunteer Army because it would be dominated by the underprivileged, be less accountable and be more prone to "the perpetuation of war crimes."
I am convinced a volunteer army would be an army of the poor and the black and the brown," Kerry wrote. "We must not repeat the travesty of the inequities present during Vietnam. I also fear having a professional army that views the perpetuation of war crimes as simply 'doing its job.'

Kerry in 2005 on Face the Nation:

Speaking Sunday as a guest on CBS? Face The Nation program, Kerry tried to have it both ways, again, by saying he supports the U.S. troops in Iraq, but accusing them of doing despicable things.

Said Sen. Kerry in response to a question by host Bob Schieffer about the progress of the war in Iraq:

" ... And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the - of - the historical customs, religious customs."

Kerry in 2006:

"You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”